All -

Anybody have any canoeing experience with the interior of Yellowstone Park?  I'm just coming off a great week-long visit there that would have been even greater had I been able to getaway from the crowds.  While we did some limited day-hiking, I think I might be up for something more substantial.  I figured to consider my "canoeing options" first.

I heard about accessing some remote lakes as well as the prospect of lake trout & grayling fishing in Yellowstone Lake itself.  Sounds interesting to me & would appreciate hearing from anyone with actual experience.

Jimbo   8-)

a trip report and pics will be in order :)

no actual experience, but on my list of trips to do - put in on Lewis Lake, and go up Lewis River into Shoshone Lake - a smaller lake than Yellowstone, but still pretty big,  with paddle in or hike in only access, located in the geyser basin, so lots to see.  There is one point where you have to get out and walk your boat up the river current, but apparently its easy enough to do.

Its a "standard" trip for Yellowstone - backcountry permits used to be free, and may still be, so its a lot cheaper camping.

On Yellowstone Lake, there are some areas that are non-motorized in the south end - I'd like to go back into there again someday - I hiked around the lake 24 miles to get there the one time I was there and fished the lake from shore.  Caught 20 cutthroats, all about 16" in about 1 to 2 hours fishing from my campsite (there was a slot limit, and all were within that range and released).  Shallow sandy beach area that wasn't very deep - essetially caught a cutthroat on every cast when I didn't pick up seaweed - that killed the lure actiion of the medium gold spoon I was using - got weeds 2 out of 3 times, so I caught a fish 1 in 3 casts. It was too easy.  Lakers weren't an issue back then - they were illegally introduced into the lake and last I heard it was catch and kill all you can.  

Personally, having seen fresh Griz tracks on the hiking trail, and hearing about  a woman hiker getting killed by a Griz a week or two after I hiked out, my choice would be to camp on one of the island sites.  Yellowstone is a really big lake, and wind drives some big waves on it - you can get caught, or get windbound.

You can find some trip reports over on Paddling.Net if you want more first hand accounts

I think there are a few short sections of the Yellowston River that are canoeable -  in the same area, The Snake River in Grand Teton NP has some nice sections, and I think there are some paddle in campsites on the main lake there as well.

"Personally, having seen fresh Griz tracks on the hiking trail, and hearing about  a woman hiker getting killed by a Griz a week or two after I hiked out, my choice would be to camp on one of the island sites."

That begs the question Jimbo, how FAR do you think you'd fly, IF a big old Yellowstone Grizzly SLAPPED you out of your Bear Piñata ;D

Mad_Mat,

Lewis Lake - Lewis River - Shoshone Lake sounds like what the tour guide was describing to my wife.  That is exactly where I wanted to head.

We actually stayed 20 miles north of the park in Montana in a house we rented along the Yellowstone River.  The day my wife & mom took the bus tour, I took my sons on a rafting trip from Gardiner (town at northern entrance to park) almost right back to where we were staying.  While I don't think we encountered anything more than Grade 4 paddling conditions (a couple spots with rather big waves), I'm probably well past the days when I might consider canoeing such water.  I'm thinking that is NOT the section of the Yellowstone River you are referring to.

Speaking of Grizzly Bears, I DID have my second significant unusual close-encounter with wildlife this summer (the first involved a lynx in Woodland Caribou Park; I just happened to jump down from a ledge into a bush he was claiming as his own).  It was afternoon & I was walking the wooded banks of the Yellowstone River right behind our house.  The rest of my family was in Bozeman rock-climbing & watching Barack Obama go by in his 6 black SUV motorcade.  Fishing being more important to me than presidents, I was using a spinning rod (fly-fishermen purists are scoffing right about now) and catching quite a number of Mountain Whitefish and a few Rainbow & Cutthroat trout.  I was perhaps a half-mile or so downstream from my house when I noticed a very large grass-eating animal about 100 yards away in the brush.   Complicating my identification of said animal at that distance was the large growth of some sort under its chin.   Also, something was clearly wrong with the animal's behavior, as it was crashing drunk-like in bushes & trees.  I was working my way downstream so I moved closer... maybe 10 yards away, in fact.  What had appeared as a "growth" of some sort under its chin was actually half of the animal's neck and an antler just hanging off what remained of the right side of its head.  Something - presumably a bear - gave that critter - an elk, as it turned out - a helluva whack on its right side.  It was pretty gruesome.

As sorry & sympathetic as I felt for the elk, which was in obvious agony as it bashed about in the bushes, my mind started to consider its own neck and so I moved right along downstream.  While I DID continue on with my fishing (what can I say? I'm a diehard), I WAS able to flag down the local sheriff about 10 minutes later.  He had just pulled into the public highway Rest Area on the opposite side of the river.   That the uniformed fellow actually understood what I was trying to scream over the continuous "whoosh" of the river was somewhat remarkable.  He indicated he would drive over to my side of the river and bring a rifle to put the elk out of its misery.  Then, he would go after the troublesome bear.  I think he also suggested that I should get the hell out of there.

Finally, I suppose I should confess something.  Later that afternoon, when my wife returned from Bozeman, I offered her an apology.  You see, she had woken me up the night before & was all excited to tell me, "Jim!  Jim!  An elk is bugling right outside our door!!"  I grunted, told her she was nuts, that the moo-cow from across the river were pretty active, and that I was going back to sleep.  I think I had also requested that she NOT wake me up again unless she had a fully-confirmed sighting of Big Foot.

Alas, I DO get things wrong sometimes....

Anyway, the Yellowstone area is a pretty cool place.  I'm DEFINITELY up for going back there.  Those backcountry lakes sound like a blast!

Thanks for the info, guys.  Keep it coming!

Jimbo   8-)

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scroll down a few pages and you see an overview map - lewis Lake is the smaller lake (to the E of Shoshone, which is the second largest) along the main N/S road.

The spot I camped on Yellowstone Lake was 6A2 or 6A3

I believe you can reserve/book some of the sites on line.

Yellowstone is about 550 miles from Denver, so I'll get up there one of these days - was giving it some thought when gas was $4.50/ gall


here's a trip announcement with pictures you might be interested in - i think that is Jenny Lake in the Tetons, the lake I mentioned that you can paddle over to backcountry sites at.

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Jimbo :o
 At times like that, the Bear Spray that many scoff at doesn't seem like such a bad idea?
 I'd consider carrying that on any Yellowstone back country adventure, and MAYBE even a lightweight Backpacker Bear Fence for your night time peace of mind. Bears are very active during the night hours.
I'm sure you'll be fishing, so that adds another concern.
When you see what a bear can do to a big elk, makes you realize how LOW on the food chain humans are ;D
In February 2010, the National Parks will allow legal loaded concealed weapons and in some places open carry(unconcealed). Their working out the fine details now.
Not for everyone, but a nice option to have.

Jim....I've been back to Heart Lake a few times before the fires....9 miles (hike) a bit far for a canoe...but many go back, and pack in float tubes and flippers.  Camp a night or two and come out.  Heart lake trailhead right across from Lewis lake area.

I also have camped and fished the Yellowstone right near your "house" during the late 80's.  Cutthroat and whitefish were just as prevalent then as well.  That area is infamous for class III and a short class IV stretch....but from there on down to Livingston is an easy paddle and float....not to mention breathtaking.

The Gardner area and just N of the park has seen several Grizz attacks in the last two years.


Mad Matt...it's been my dream to tow across Yellowstone and hike down to near Jackson from the reaches of the upper Yellowstone....past Bridger lake and Hawk's Rest, past Parting of the Waters Nat. Landmark...and on SW.  And to see the Thorofare and Hawk's rest cabins.  I'm jealous of your hike.

Wally,

My guess is that paddling conditions right in the town of Gardiner were close to being Grade 4 and those down in Yankee Jim Canyon would definitely be Grade 4 when water conditions are high.  I gotta imagine the hydraulics down in that canyon would prove to be fairly substantial in the spring.  As it was, I was probably dealing with Grade 3 conditions... pretty easy in a raft!

ST,

Yes, I was definitely beginning to feel pretty low on the food chain that afternoon.  I figured if the grizzly was around & wanted me, he HAD me... and one or two more casts for cutthroats wasn't going to matter all that much.

We pretty much saw most of the wildlife that one can see in the region... though I never really SAW the grizzly bear (if, indeed, it was one).  I DO believe what Wally says about the grizzly reports in that area over the past 2 years!  In addition to bear & elk, we ran into bison, deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, strutting lesser prairie chickens, the butt ends of two moose, rabbits, ground squirrels, coyotes, osprey, eagles, magpies, several varieties of herons, etc. & so on.  The area is incredibly impressive in this regard.

Mad_Mat,

Thanks for the links, tips, etc..  I REALLY like that John Murray quote re: grizzlies in that one link!  

I'm going to have to study-up on a potential Shoshone Lake venture.  My food-storage & consumption-in-the-wilderness practices would have to change pretty dramatically if I were to take such a trip.  I've been rather cavalier about allowing my food barrel sit right next to QP's tent or under Magic Paddlers hammock in years past.  Such practices out in Yellowstone might substantially reduce my pool of future paddling partners....

Jimbo   8-)

Jim here's a web cam link I check daily....from very near your location out there....
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And somewhat off-topic....did you see any remains of the Church Universal on the W side of the road...just N of Gardiner?  I've always been fascinated with that place and it's history.

Wally,

Are you taking about those doomsday/survivalist guys under the golden steeple?

Jimbo   8-)

This group run by Elizabeth Clare Prophet.  They have a massive underground complex just N of the park along the river....just N of Gardiner....
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Yeah, Wally, that's them!  They own half the land in the valley, per my rafting guide.  He tells me you can drive tractor trailers through their underground bunkers.  They are waiting for the massive cataclysm when the world teeters on the brink of a disastrous end.  Then they all jump into their bunkers, ride it out with their supplies behind their gun turrets, etc., & wait for their saints & demi-gods to come fetch them after all the fireworks are over.

Or, at least, that was sort of how it was put to me.

I never actually ran into any of those folks that I know of.  I merely asked, "Who are those folks behind those high barbed wire topped fences under the tall golden steeple?"  We floated right past their complex.  Later, I came back & fished right across the river from them.  My son caught a nice trout right in there, too.

You know, I don't really think their bunkers will do that all that much good if the Yellowstone caldera ever really blew its cork....

Later,

Jimbo   8-)

Just THINK what you could do with all that extra money IF you were  taxed as a "religious" organization ;)
Maybe you could put a little "GOLDEN" cupola on your house with the sign of the QJ stick figure on it.
Call it the CHURCH of the PADDLER ;D
Makes as much sense as some of the groups that call themselves "Church's" ::)

Before you plan to paddle Yellowstone, you may want to read the August, 2009 edition of National Geographic. I noticed that Q is outside the 'fallout zone'.

Jumping in a few months late here, but if you're still interesting in paddling around Yellowstone and the Tetons, check out the Yellowstone.net forum for a wealth of YNP & GTNP knowledge, not to mention awesome photos and some really great folks  :)  

Here is a link to one of several threads on canoeing in Parkadise.     (You need to Login or Register
You will have to register.  

Paddling the Snake in GTNP is on my "to-do" list next trip, if I can pry myself away from wildlife watching.   ;D

Jimbo wrote on Aug 18^th, 2009 at 5:51pm:

All - I heard about accessing some remote lakes as well as the prospect of lake trout & grayling fishing in Yellowstone Lake itself.  Sounds interesting to me & would appreciate hearing from anyone with actual experience. Jimbo   8-)

Hey Jimbo
It was twenty years ago but my wife and I honeymooned in yellowstone for almost 2 weeks and I got to know it a bit. If you go back PM me. There are some places where the dandy cutts aren't so educated.......pretty good lick to get in though.